


Stronger

by firecrackerx



Category: Homestuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 17:39:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firecrackerx/pseuds/firecrackerx





	Stronger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [in_fini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/in_fini/gifts).



Meenah clenched her teeth and let out a strangled growl, her hand reaching blindly for something to grab on to. There was nothing but the ground she crawled upon, dragging her body as best as she could with one arm and one leg. She would have liked to used both hands, but was afraid to remove the other from the wound on her side; hot blood poured out between her fingers every time she pushed herself forward. Her left leg was out of the question, too, as it dragged completely limp behind her; a shock of pain ran through her whole leg whenever she tried to move it and she felt something hard lodged inside it. Her fingertips dug into the hard ground as she advanced a few more inches. 

The promised bed was there, mocking her. It looked like it was so close, but so it did an eternity ago, when she had started moving towards it. She looked up, trying to keep her eyes fixed on the soft curves of the stone lab. The world looked fragmented through the alchemized glasses she had picked up from the floor after the beating. Only the right glass had survived, but there were cracks on its surface. It had been blinking faintly for some time, blue words appearing and vanishing in front of her.

 

_\-- gentlyAnnotated [GA] began trolling affluentGildedgills [AG] --_

_GA: Meenah._

_GA: Meenah? Are you there?_

_GA: Meenah, this is no time to ignore my messages! Please, answer me as soon as you read this, it looks like we may have yet another calamity in our hands. No a single mem8er of the party has 8een a8le to communic8 with Porrim during the last days and I am concerned a8out her._

_GA: I really wish you would make yourself more accessi8le! You are one of the few I can alert of this sort of emergencies without having them lose their minds. Latula is not far away from the Forge and says she is going to explore a 8it, 8ut your help would still 8e appreciated and much needed!_

 

Meenah huffed and the taste of blood filled her mouth like a sharp sting. It was true, she ignored Aranea's advices way too frequently. She begged her to stay when told about her decision to abdicate and flee to Beforus' moon, but Meenah was resolved to leave. She should have listened. She should have stayed. But she ignored her like she was ignoring her now, and found the game, and now Porrim was missing, Rufioh was dead, she was crawling over her own blood to reach the Quest Bed before joining him and Damara was out there.

Damara.

Her breath quickened, becoming a panicked wheeze. She could come back. What if she came back? What if she killed her before she could reach the bed? Meenah swallowed a sob as she tried to push herself forward with the good leg. She had to get to the fucking thing. She should have listened to Aranea. But she could have never stayed. Not with millions of people waiting for her to take care of them. Aranea had spent months serketting her mouth off about how she would be a good Empress, but every time she tried to reassure her it was worse. Every word she said was a gentle lie, but a lie after all. Her whole society was a joke, people were weak. The only thought of having them asking for her help, begging her to solve their problems, waiting to be guided and protected, drove her crazy. And it looked like she was right for once, and not Aranea. How could she believe Meenah would have been able to protect millions, when she had failed to save eleven? 

You could not leave those morons alone for a second. They would all be slaughtered within days, and it would be her fault. Something shone in front of her for a second, on the ground. She fought not to retch when she realized it was one of her golden eyebrow piercings. 

 

_\-- caballerialGamergirl [CG] began trolling affluentGildedgills [AG] --_

_CG: SH1T!!!! sh1tsh1tsh1tsh1tsh1tsh1t!!!_

_CG: p4ych3ck???_

_CG: dont l34v3 m3 h4ng1ng h3r3, w3 h4v3 s3r1ous probl3ms!! th3 forg3 1s 4ll m3ss3d up 4nd th3r3s j4d3 blood 3v3rywh3r3??_

_CG: 1 dont s33 h3r 4round. you dont th1nk som3th1ng... took h3r, r1ght?? mp l3mm3 know wh4t you th1nk 1 should do, ok?? 1 4m g3tt1ng 4ll k1nd4 cr33ps up h3r3._

 

More losers waiting for her to solve their problems. The tip of her fingers grazed the polished surface of the Quest Bed. It was harder holding to the cold stone for support. Her fingers tensed against it and she heard a nail crack. She howled because she did not feel the pain and wasted a few second sobbing with her forehead pressed against the cold, hard slab. Would her head and an arm on the bed be enough? She was not feeling whatever had stuck in her leg anymore; she barely felt she had a left leg at all. And the shivers down her spine. She knew the cold would be next, spreading over her body...

She could not leave those suckers alone. 

Using both hands, not caring about the bleeding wound anymore, she dragged herself to the bed and tried to catch her breath, but it was useless. The longer she rested, the less she seemed to be able to breathe. She should have listened. She should have never played the game. She should not have urged them to be stronger, playing their feelings with a delicacy she didn't know she had, picking their worst fears and traits for display. If only there had been another way to make them ready for all the things she was not good enough to save them from...

Her cracked glasses blinked again. The words were barely visible and her cheek pressed against the stone had crooked them on her face, the messages floating in a weird angle before her eye.

 

_\-- assertiveAphrodisiac [AA] began trolling affluentGildedgills [AG] --_

_AA: I am no+t dead._

_AA: O+r, well, actually I think I am. But I am o+k._

 

Meenah let out a gurgling humorless laugh and blood gushed out from her wounds. She was trembling. Knowing she would rise up was not enough to assuage the primitive horror building on the back of her mind. She could feel the life escaping her. She did not want to die alone. Just a few words...

 

_AG: maryam you a trooper_

_AG: got them ugly pjs_

_AA: No+._

_AG: what are you serious_

_AA: No+t searious?_

_AG: hey eff you cant think of them fishpuns right now you beach_

_AA: There yo+u go+. Are yo+u alright?_

_AG: dont sound so worried motherglubber_

_AA: So+rry, I am still co+nfused and trying to+ understand the mo+tives fo+r my mysterio+us resurrection. And I am hungry. I can't believe ho+w hungry I am._

 

The words blurried. She focused her eyes beyond the glasses and realized it was her vision failing. Messages kept popping up, but she was unable to read them. Trembling violently, she thought of Damara's face over hers as she was beating her up. The rage in her face. She had always been so meek, so shy... 

She should have listened to Aranea. It was too late to change them. Aranea and Latula were sending messages again, faint colored lights blinking in front of her and fading slowly.

"Buncha losers..." she whispered, and the world fell silent.

Damara only approached the body when she was certain Meenah was dead. One of her needles was stuck on the back of the dead girl's thigh. She grabbed it with a hand and pulled hard, stepping on Meenah's leg. The needle left Meenah's body with a wet noise. Mission accomplished.

Time to go.

 

****

 

Meenah smiled, the Tumor between her hands. They were all there. She would have never guessed it. Sweeps of fighting and still twelve of them present. Most of them fucked up, sure, but all present. Still needing her. 

But this time there was hope. 

She would make them stronger and they would not need her anymore. Things would be better. She'd take care of it. A new society. No, a better society.

They would start from scratch. 

"Are you failpros ready?" 

"Wait, Meenah, what...?" Kankri started. Meenah rolled her eyes. Damn, no. 

She blew them to pieces.


End file.
